Traces of treasure in eucalyptus tree leaves may signal a hidden trove of gold under the surface, according to a new study.

Researchers have previously noticed small amounts of the precious metal in and around eucalyptus trees, but they didn’t know if the plants were soaking up gold from the ground or from windblown dust. Geochemist Melvyn Lintern of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Kensington, Australia and colleagues used X-ray imaging to tally the tiny bits of gold in eucalyptus trees growing near and on top of buried gold in Western Australia.

Only trees growing directly over the 35-meter-deep deposit tapped into the gold with their deep-growing roots, the team reports October 22 in Nature Communications.

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